Water profiles for dummy (me)

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by MCBanjoMike, May 20, 2015.

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  1. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    I don't know what you're looking at, but for a Tripel I'd go with a balanced (between Chlorides and Sulfates) profile. Shameless plug: If you use BrewCipher, each style has one or more recommended profiles appropriate for the style.
     
    #21 VikeMan, May 21, 2015
    GetMeAnIPA likes this.
  2. Lukass

    Lukass Pooh-Bah (2,891) Dec 16, 2012 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah

    Yea, that was weird for me too.. I don't know why they wouldn't just list the styles, and have water profiles based off those. I just picked one that sounded like the profile I was wanting.. balanced sounds like the safe route to go, or do as Vike suggested and use his software.
     
    #22 Lukass, May 21, 2015
  3. MCBanjoMike

    MCBanjoMike Initiate (0) Aug 7, 2014 Canada (QC)

    I decided to try BrewCipher to see what it would give me, but there are only 2 water profiles visible (using MS Office 2007), VikeMan's Blond Ale and Generic Big Pale Ale. Is this a bug?

    I also got a pretty different value for the amount of water to use in my recipe, when compared with an online calculator that I've used before (and had good results with) - 9 gallons versus 8 gallons. I'm guessing this is because I (seemingly) can't adjust the amount of water absorption per pound of grain. The online calculator lets you adjust that, to account for bag squeezing.

    Either way, I still don't know what kind of water to use for a tripel or a bitter. :stuck_out_tongue:
     
    #23 MCBanjoMike, May 21, 2015
  4. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    Water profiles are a matter of preference, not presets. Of course, a preset can point you in a reasonably good direction.
     
    #24 Brew_Betty, May 21, 2015
  5. Mag00n

    Mag00n Initiate (0) Nov 21, 2008 New York

    I googled it and got a lot of results. Read through some of the threads and see if you deem the data trustworthy/interesting or worth trying.

    Just one example:
    https://www.google.com/webhp?source...TF-8#q=water profile for a tripel&safe=active (removed linke to'other' site)

    For bru N water, Id say chimay or rochefort would both be worth considering
     
    #25 Mag00n, May 21, 2015
  6. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Any given style has one or more recommended profiles. After you select the style, hit the water profile suggestion dropdown on the water tab. Scroll up/down if needed.

    Grain Absorption Loss is a parameter on the Brewhouse parameters tab. You'll find there are more user-selectable parameters than in any on-line calculator.

    ETA: Guess I should add... you can also add (store) your own standard profiles in BrewCipher. These user-added profiles are then available in the dropdown for any style (i.e. user-added profiles are not style specific).
     
    #26 VikeMan, May 21, 2015
  7. MCBanjoMike

    MCBanjoMike Initiate (0) Aug 7, 2014 Canada (QC)

    Ah, now I understand. I didn't realize that the drop-down menu for water profiles was populated based on the style selected in the Recipe tab. Very nice! And I found the grain absorption loss parameter - it was set to a value three times higher than the one used in the BIAB calculator! Is that due to differences in brewing techniques, or is the plausible range pretty wide for grain absorption?

    EDIT: Playing around with water additions, I can match the Vike Man's Blond Ale water profile exactly if I add 4.3g of CaCl an 2.1g of gypsum to 7.8 gallons of water. This puts my mash pH at 5.63, which seems a little on the high side? But adding more acid malt to the bill hardly seems to move the needle on that one. Still, we're getting closer!
     
    #27 MCBanjoMike, May 21, 2015
    Last edited: May 21, 2015
  8. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Yes, it can be process specic to some degree. The default value is the one that works for me, and seems to work for a lot of people. But that's why it's a parameter. Change it to whatever your experience is.

    If you selected Tripel, you shouldn't see the Blond Ale profile in the dropdown. You're probably seeing it displayed in the row, because it was there from when Blond Ale was the selected style. If you click the dropdown, you'll see it's not there anymore. Not that the Blond Ale profile would be bad for a Tripel, but just saying.
     
    #28 VikeMan, May 21, 2015
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